Sadly, this analogy stretches to cover the kind of selfish and abusive behaviour frequently inflicted on others by a few, often otherwise stable, human beings. There have been numerous documented cases of Web rage including verbal abuse, death threats, even ending in physical violence.

Would removing the Web’s trademark anonymity help prevent this type of unacceptable action? Would people do this if they really thought others might see them and know what they’ve done? For my money I think, barring the usually real world crazies, most wouldn’t.

In accepting this type of approach though, don’t we run the risk of exposing ourselves to other attacks, such as identity theft? We usually try hard not to expose more about ourselves than strictly necessary and this seems completely contrary to those goals.

As Web authors, we take the decision to publish, and I guess we need to consider all that may come with it. Authors have suffered from hate mail and stalkers for generations and I’m afraid it comes with the territory. However, making public comment is just another form of publishing; so, in my estimation, even those who only comment should do so using their own identity. After all, for those who create, we must know who you are to understand your views.

That said, for those who consume and simply enjoy surfing the Web and reading the views expressed there; anonymity provides the chance to learn in relative safety. For some that anonymity can genuinely be a matter of life or death, and I support your right to access and privacy.

Firstly, unmaintained security software is worse than nothing at all, giving the user a false sense of invulnerability! Therefore, to improve your chances of remaining safe on the Web, for each computer you use:

• Ensure you have a decent Internet security package with online support for updates installed on your system. In no particular order, I’d include the products of the following but it’s by no means an exhaustive list:
  • Symantec (Norton).
  • McAfee.
  • Zone Labs (ZoneAlarm).
  • F-Secure.
  • Trend Micro.
• Spend the money annually to subscribe to the service on a continual basis, upgrading the software as required to ensure you have a supported version.

Next come the weekly tasks:

• Check for operating system patches and updates.
• Check for updates to other software, like your browser or email client.
  • If these are MS Internet Explorer and Outlook Express the automated Windows update process should take care of these as well as the operating system.
  • If your using Safari and the Mail application on an Apple Mac their Software update; under the Apple icon, usually top left; should do the same.
  • If you’ve installed something else; and why not, I like Firefox and Opera browsers for example; ask yourself if you should be installing software that you don’t know how the maintain.
• Run a full virus and spyware scan of you computer to find anything that might slip through.

And then the daily update:

• Check for new virus definitions and security patches for your security software when you switch the machine on.

Finally, and most importantly, always think about what you’re reading and/or to what you’re providing username, passwords etc. Unfortunately, it’s almost always the user’s behaviour that is the security weak link. Talking of which, those of us using Linux and Mac OS X, once we grow to become a viable economic target, the malware producers will be after us too. It’s only a matter of time.